

Inazuma Eleven: Ares
イナズマイレブン アレスの天秤
Taking place in an alternate timeline after Raimon Junior High wins the Football Frontier, a group of boys is playing soccer on a remote island off the coast of Japan. However, one day the students witness the demolition of the only soccer field on the island as they fight desperately to prevent its destruction, to no avail. The only way to regain their soccer club is to become champions of the Football Frontier. Asuto Inamori and his classmates take up the offer, moving to mainland Japan and attending Raimon Junior High. Leaving behind their families and entering metropolitan Tokyo, they embark on a journey that will test their resolve to be the best in all of Japan. Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin tells the tale of a group of friends whose desire for soccer burns brighter by the day. Through their encounters with several titans of the soccer landscape, including the mysterious coach Zhao Jinyun—they rush headlong into the Football Frontier to face the greatest teams Japan has to offer! [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Taking place in an alternate timeline after Raimon Junior High wins the Football Frontier, a group of boys is playing soccer on a remote island off the coast of Japan. However, one day the students witness the demolition of the only soccer field on the island as they fight desperately to prevent its destruction, to no avail. The only way to regain their soccer club is to become champions of the Football Frontier. Asuto Inamori and his classmates take up the offer, moving to mainland Japan and attending Raimon Junior High. Leaving behind their families and entering metropolitan Tokyo, they embark on a journey that will test their resolve to be the best in all of Japan. Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin tells the tale of a group of friends whose desire for soccer burns brighter by the day. Through their encounters with several titans of the soccer landscape, including the mysterious coach Zhao Jinyun—they rush headlong into the Football Frontier to face the greatest teams Japan has to offer! [Written by MAL Rewrite]
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AK25
September 28, 2018
Ares no Tenbin is an incredibly strong comeback for the series. A lot of the context for this review is back in my Inazuma Eleven Reloaded review, so don’t forget to check that one out too. The series mainly revolves around Inanuki Raimon, a team of transfer students that have been brought in the replace the separated Raimon. As far as standout characters go, none of them really do, it’s always been one of the curses of the series where the characters from the first part of any iteration are destined to be replaced for more likable and established characters as it goes on. One thingthis team has going for it is their head coach, Zhao Jin Yun, Inazuma Eleven has mainly relied on having hardass serious coaches who usually have a reason behind their harsh methods, this man breaks this tired tradition by having a weird and interesting backstory involving him mastering a bunch of sports, being comedically aloof and teaching using things like drawing parallels with soccer strategies to confessing your love to a girl for example, he always manages to match every match feel fresh in regards to how Inanuki Raimon plays and is key to making their fast improvement feel very believable. The real draw to the series really is in the opponents they face and the ones they set up to eventually join Inazuma Japan in the next Orion anime. After the first few couple of matches, excluding the ones involving Haizaki, Ares hits its stride and has powerful character arcs in every single match, in a sense, the opposing team ends up feeling more like the main characters than Raimon do, some of the already existing characters have their arcs fast forwarded while others have been fundamentally altered but still stay interesting in their own way. While not absolutely necessary, Outer Code is definitely something that should be watched as a supplement to Ares, it does a good job of hinting at what sort of dilemmas some characters will face and how the dynamics have been altered because of the retcon. Haizaki is arguably more of a main character than even Asuto, his development is something that lasts both cours, essentially revolving around coming to like soccer even though he has only been using it as a tool to get revenge on Nosaka and the Ares no Tenbin system. What starts off as a self absorbed madman turns into an inner struggle over the idea of motive, meeting his arch-rival plants the idea of soccer being something he does because he actually likes it and the viewer gets to witness it slowly grow as he faces people with stronger convictions and as he starts to wonder what being strong even means, it all comes to a head at the final match of the first season where decides to face all these thoughts head on, making it an powerful climax purely through all the new characters its featured. Though not given as much weight and attention as some of the other antagonists, Kidou and Gouenji play their role as those who help the new set of characters find themselves really well, how the former easily earns the trust of his new team and the way he leads Haizaki and the way the latter helps an Inanuki player find his true calling as striker re-establishes them for a new generation of fans, one’s way of strategically drawing out the best of his teammates and the other’s seemingly unbreakable confidence in himself and his skills sell why they’re going to be key members in the new national team so well. Afuro might have very little impact in terms of plot, but he does embody makes this show incredibly valuable to the franchise, after his crushing loss to Endou, he has a conversation with an old lady over the nature of his self-proclaimed godhood and where he went wrong in the way he viewed soccer, through it, gives him a reason for his metaphorical rebirth that the original show never gave him, which he carries into the match against Inanuki Raimon. The match ends up being one of the most unique ones thematically, where it’s the main characters who end up being taught something important rather than the ones they face. Zeus, by extension because of their captain, encapsulate how revolutionizes everything: in the same way it did it with Afuro, Ares is meant to shorten arcs and make characters relevant in ways they weren’t before, yet still keep the core of what made them so special, like Aphrodite becoming a compelling figure who learns that caring for others is what makes him who he is and why he has so much fun. The Fubuki twins were another interesting aspect of the series, the rumored unbeatable duo was mainly used to convey how they can always improve through the help of others. Atsuya initially only relies on Shirou, having very little communication going on with his other teammates, works with Nae to bring out her hidden potential and, in turn, his too, symbolized with the already powerful Double White Impact being upgraded to Triple Blizzard by her lending a hand. In essence, it keeps the core theme of drawing the best out of someone that the character of Fubuki is known for, but adapts it to make use of multiple characters with just a couple of episodes instead of making something with a long tragic backstory that requires multiple tries and a heavy dose of angst. Tatsuya and Hiroto are arguably the best set of characters in the whole season, they have the most thought put behind their backstories, the attention to detail regarding their plays and presentation, their difference in personality. Tatsuya, formerly known as Hiroto until the retcon, has been affected the most out of anyone because of the changes, he no longer has to carry the burden of trying to be someone else, symbolized by his Ryuusei Blade not looking like The Explosion does, rather his dilemma is now trying to pull that person along with him until they're ready to run on their own. He’s still the earnest kind-hearted character he’s always been, but seeing more of him as a captain than we ever had makes him so much more than that cool dude who came back as a friend in the original Inazuma Eleven, it makes everyone from the orphanage putting their trust in him and why they rely on his presence so much understandable and something to empathize with. Hiroto, formerly known as that one kid who died, has an arc that mostly boils down to being very similar to Haizaki’s, the differences in how they’re handled is what makes it engaging. Once all is said and done, their conflict resolving results in the best moment from the whole run of the show, Hiroto learning his dad’s always cared about him in his own way and him willing to work with Tatsuya to fire off Cosmic Blaster, the best looking cut of animation in all the 26 episodes. Out of any of the characters featured in Ares, they are the ones who have seemingly reached the clearest starting line when it comes to their dream, so what they can possibly offer in Orion is nothing short of exciting. Endou is the 2nd best thing this show has to offer, but only by very little. We’ve seen him as the main protagonist, as a supporting teacher figure, and now as an antagonist, which he pulls off in such a great way. The match against Tonegawa Tousen was in essence very different from the other matches in the series: because many of the teams didn’t have defense as strong as their offence, most of the matches ended up with over half a dozen points being scored, though only 3 goals were scored in the match with Endou. Taking what has always been the main supporting pillar of morale for the entire series and turning him into someone who our protagonists have to overcome is something most franchises can’t really hope to get far enough to pull off, so him being used this way is surprisingly gratifying. While it may just seem like a simply cool move at first glance, Fuujin Raijin carries so much more weight thematically than it seems, prior to Ares, Endou had followed his grandfather’s teachings until he was pushed to come up with Ijigen the Hand in the FFI arc, but the changes here manage to circumvent that and justify it too, Endou faced one of the best players in the world and felt the weight of it firsthand, so him wanting to come up with a power capable of going up against that is what makes that move feel so heavy, it’s him acknowledging his place as one of Japan’s representatives and how much harder he’ll have to push himself to catch up, also acknowledging his status as legend, both in universe and arguably in a meta-narrative sense too. Although not the match I’d consider the best, it’s great to see him back this way. With this season making so many interesting protagonists to follow, Orion no Kokuin already has so much going for it, hopefully it manages to make use of them. Even if it doesn’t this season alone has been a wonderful set of gripping personal matches that showcased a bunch of varying and nuanced views about what makes soccer fun and the mindsets one can have to improve. I’m really glad Inazuma Eleven is still something I can look forward to even after all these years.
TakaCode
October 13, 2019
I am a big fan of the original Inazuma Eleven series. While it wasn't a masterpiece by any means it was still a great anime that I really liked. The story while predictable at times was engaging and entertaining to watch. The characters were for the most part great and well written, the visuals while not being great had its own charm and style and the soundtrack while a bit repetitive at times was great. It is a show I loved and to this day I hold it on high regard. Then, we have the Inazuma Eleven GO saga and while it was pretty good it hadits fare share of problems especially when you into Inazuma Eleven GO Galaxy where things got bizarre. When I heard that Inazuma Eleven is coming back in full force I was really excited because it has been 4 years since the final episode of Inazuma Eleven GO Galaxy aired. I thought the alternative setting of the show would be the series back to its great routes in a different way. I thought Inazuma Eleven Ares is going to be one of the best animes of 2018. Sadly Inazuma Eleven Ares was not one of the best animes of 2018. Inazuma Eleven Ares is easily the single most disappointing anime of 2018. Where do I even begin with this fan-fiction mess. For starters, we don't see the Inakuni Raimon team train at all but yet as the series progresses we just see them unlocking and mastering overpowered hissatsus right out of the gate. This alone created some serious plotholes and plot contrivance that at various time damages the narrative. I know the Inazuma Eleven were not the best in the narrative directing but some of the stuff that happens here is downright unacceptable even for Inazuma Eleven standards. For example, where did Iwato even learn the hissatsu technique call the wall. There's no flashback of him practising to that hissatsu technique he just mastered the hissatsu out of fin air. Next up the pacing especially in the first episode. I will admit the original series and the GO saga did not have great pacing either but least these two did a pretty good at establishing it's setting, tone and character. Here they did the exact opposite. The first episode is nothing but a series of emotional manipulation for the main protagonist who not only he loses his soccer team, but he loses his mother due to an illness. I honestly don't like when a show starts like this because it just feels like a cheap way to make the audience feel bad for set main character that we barely even know yet. When I saw the first episode for the first episode I did not care about Austo struggle because all events were so rushed. What made this even worse is that the show doesn't give Austo to probably grief as after he cried in the hill about his mother died a couple of scenes later we him perfectly fine and happy like nothing has happened. We don't see him baring his own mother, nor we see him grief alongside with his friends we just see him behave a happy kid. What makes this worse it the directing where in one Asuto is a happy and cheerful kid however what the plot decided to talk about Asuto's mother he literally goes full crybaby at times emo on the viewer. This is poor directing at its finest. Another case of this show messy direction is how almost every single match gets interrupted by sudden flashbacks where the show tries to develop it's quote new "characters" but the most part it failed miserably due to how uninteresting the new characters were. It doesn't help the fact the three main characters are all forwards instead of being a different soccer role killing the show variety. Another problem with Inazuma Eleven Ares is the new characters absolutely have no character chemistry. A couple of new characters in the show were inspired by certain old characters, but they really don't interact with each other. This alone crated a chunk of plotholes where the series does a poor job at explaining of how certain new characters were able to know the old ones. Speaking of plotholes the amount of plotholes in this show is insane in even for Inazuma Eleven standards. Where did Austo mother get burial othe Island? Why did Kazemaru decided to become a spy? How did Kagayama escape from prison? How did some of the new charterers learn new hissatsus? Who is the person controlling the Ares programme? I could go on and on. The worst thing about Inazuma Eleven Ares is that is so god repetitive. Almost every single episode has a random soccer matches. There's hardly any down time all as the series just want to get back into the soccer matches and it ultimately kills all potential character development. Before I talk about the old characters that we all know and love from the original series let's go over the new characters first because I have a lot of complaints. First, we have Asuto. I really tried to like him but direction and pacing of the series completely ruin him to a point where it only ends up being an unlikable and annoying character for the first half. His motivation of playing the sport it dumb as he wants to play soccer because his dying mother said so. This is just stupid anyone can write such a script. Asuto doesn't develop well all that much as he still is the same annoying kid from episode 1 and his interactions towards the other characters feel so stuff and unnatural. Let's not forget that his an overpowered player who learns some of the most powerful hissatsus even though we don't see him train for shit. In many ways Asuto is no different to Kirito in Sword Art Online where he unlocks some of the most powerful skills, weapons and abilities in the games that he plays. What a waste of a character if I ever think of one. Next, we have Ryouhei. Ryouhei is a pretty good character and easily more interesting and than Asuto. I really enjoyed how Ryouhei uses football as a tool of revenge as he tries only beat Nosaka but the whole ares system and his reasoning overall fill justified as we can sympathise with him thanks to he's well-told backstory. Now we have Nosaka who is by far the best character in the show. Unlike Austo and Ryouhei he's the character that I enjoyed on a emotional level. He has a pretty solid backstory where before the events of the series he was diagnosed with a brain tumour where he only has 3 months to live before he dies. The show also a pretty job at making Nosaka a pretty sympathetic character where we know the full existent of his backstory and motivation of playing Ares programme? Now with Nosaka out of the way let's talk about the weakest characters on Inazuma Eleven. the New Ramion team. They are just a bunch of Mary sues who not only don't develop for shit but they are incredibly bland and unoriginal to a point they can put you to sleep. Honestly the only other character that is even noteworthy is Hiuru aka Kazemaru 2.0 who had the potential to be good but the pacing and fanfic writing completely ruins him. Now with the new characters done with let's talk about the returning characters. Now if you thought the new characters were bad enough you ain't seen nothing yet. While the new characters were mostly a bunch of empty shells avoid with personality. Endou for example went from being a charming, passionate soccer freak to this one dimensional kid who likes to yell a lot. The character that got the worst treatment is my favourite Inazuma Eleven character Kazemaru. What a way to kill a character that I adored. In the original series he was a friendly competitive guy who love to face off strong opponents in Ariesto this dark, soulless and one dimensional spy who barely did anything. Inazuma Eleven Ares visuals were underwhelming even for Inazuma Eleven standards. The one thing that I didn't like is how it tried to look too modern by being up to date with the current sport anime but it completely backfired itself as the show can be pretty rough to look at. The character designs in Inazuma Eleven Ares range from okay to terrible as many of the characters designs in this show feels like the animation staff took rejected characters designs from the original series and Go and decided to put them in this series and it really shows. I won't mention any of the characters but if you're a Inazuma Eleven fan such as myself you can easily tell of which character designs that the animation staff decided to scrap while making the original and Go series. The animation in Inazuma Eleven Ares is below average. I will admit that the original series wasn't the best when it comes to animation but least it had it unique flare that prevent it looking dated. Ares animation on the other hand felt like it was done without a second thought. The soccer matches in Inazuma Eleven were dreadful because not they ridiculously predictable but the matches themselves feel stiff, uninspired. I have never seen Inazuma Eleven soccer matches this lifeless and lazy. It honestly makes me want to turn off my computer due to how boring they are, It is almost as bad as Megalo Box boxing matches am not even joking. The worst thing about the animation is the hissatsu. The hissatsu were meant to be this special skill for each player to use in a match. However, the way the hissatus are portrayed in Ares is horrible. Some of the hissatus feel like they came straight from Dragon Ball Z. Some of the hissatsu were so bad it can literally piss off anyone inducing Inazuma eleven fans. When I saw Fire Lemonade in the last episode of the series I wanted to slam my head on a solid wall because who thought that having a hissatsu like that was a good idea. The soundtrack of Inazuma Eleven Ares underwhelming at best. I don't mean the old track from the original series as it still great as ever the problem the new track is very dull and lifeless. The same thing can apply for the opening theme Teppen e Dash! by pugcat's which is a generic kid's opening theme that barely has any energy put to it. The ending theme Koisuru Otome wa Amemoyou by alom is a mediocre ending theme. The voice acting thankfully is still pretty good overall as you expect. Not much to comment. Inazuma Eleven Ares is one of the most disappointing animes I have ever seen in a long while. After waiting 4 years for a new Inazuma Eleven I felt insulted of what I got. The story is poorly directed mess that is filled with plot holes and conveniences. The characters for the most part were subpar and uninteresting thanks to the shows fanatic writing. The visuals were at best underwhelming and the soundtrack is lifeless. Unless you're into bad fanatics I strongly recommended especially Inazuma Eleven fans to avoid this show at all cost because this series is ultimately not worth the wait at all as it will only disappoint you.
Jorge_Inazuma
January 22, 2021
Inazuma eleven ares is a disappointment, the franchise of Inazuma eleven is not taken seriously, the development of the characters is bad, the death of the protagonist's mother at the end had no weight in the plot was only to feel sorry for him, the 3 main characters have flaws, the one who has it the most is undoubtedly Asuto being the poorest of the 3, Nosaka and Haisaki are much more decent, another big problem he has are the Hitassus taken from his sleeve, the last minute, although Whether in the original saga they had a reason or a story behind, here they onlyappear with magic, many characters have almost no relevance and others are only to play the role of comedy, but even so they do not succeed, it is very difficult to connect with even if it is a character, although the soundtrack is one of the best of the inazuma saga, my conclusion is that ares is an anime that if you are not a fan of the inazuma saga I do not recommend it, but if you are a fan it is something decent.
BunicuMarin
January 18, 2021
After the questionable Aliea Academy arc from the original Inazuma Eleven and after the Inazuma Eleven Go series that felt like getting the bad ending of a video game, Inazuma Eleven Ares feels like replaying the game and getting the good ending. Story 8/10 The story is similar to the first arc of the original Inazuma Eleven, where you have a new inexperienced football team that joins a tournament that has more at stake than a trophy. And here comes Midouin Munetada. He is an absolute exact copy of Kageyama Reiji except the fact that the story doesent follow him in such a mysterious manner like theoriginal did with Reiji. The first episode is a little confusing with a lot of new characters being introduced as well as the football field being demolished and some other things i wont spoil, but after that the story goes smoothly, in a nice peace. Art 8/10 The art is good, i like the colorful pallet as well as the more tall and mature looking characters, because in Inazuma Eleven and Inazuma Eleven GO even though the characters are 1 year younger, they look like they are 13 and not 16, so most of the characters look more realistic this time. The animation is smooth there is no annoying CGI, the only problem is the new hissatsus(superpower moves if you havent watch the original Inazuma Eleven) animations, they lack the spirit of the original ones, but are not half bad either. Sound 8/10 The op and ending are very good, good enough to put them in my anime songs playlist, the voice actors are good as well and the background music is fitting, but i wouldnt call any of them a masterpiece. Characters 8/10 About the characters, Inazuma Eleven Ares introduces a lot of very good, interesting characters like Nosaka Yuuma aka The Emperor of The Field, Haizaki Ryouhei aka The Devil of the Pitch and more, but in the same time we have the entire new Raimon Jr team, that lacks any personality. In 27 episodes in the first Arc of the original Inazuma Eleven, we learned a lot about almost every team member, so that in the end we know and care about everyone of them, but Inazuma Eleven Ares seemed focused only on a few good characters while disregarding the others. This might not be so bad because, for that small amount of characters we are able to dive deeper into their personalities then we could have if all the characters where properly introduced. Inamori Asuto is the only exception. He is the main character so of course he has a lot of screentime but that doesent make him a good protagonist. All the fans around the globe agree that Inamori Asuto is the worst Inazuma Eleven protagonist. Why? Because he is an exact copy of Endou Mamoru. Even Tenma from the hated Go series was better because even though he was similar to Endou he had different circumstances and problems while Asuto deals with the exact same things as Endou and solves them in the exact way(convincing the team to play in the tournament, convincing the director of the school to support them etc.). He has the same circumstances as him, he speaks like him and that makes him boring considering the fact that Endou is in Inazuma Eleven Ares as well. That doesen mean that Asuto is the worst character ever, he is better than the unknown Raimon Jr team, but he is just uninteresting. Enjoyment 9/10 I was able to have a lot of fun watching Inazuma Eleven Ares, I liked the few new good characters, and seeing the old characters in a different hypostasis was interesting. Conclusion Inazuma Eleven Ares does not get the popularity that it deserves probably because of the horrible Go series that made the fans quit the anime. I tell you to give this one a try at least because there are no more weird Avatars Space Trains, football pitches with traps and stuff. Just the normal classic hissatsus form the OG. Even if you havent watched the original Inazuma Eleven you can watch this series alone.
Shivin302
January 13, 2019
I watched all the Inazuma Eleven series so far, and I was super hyped for this one when it was announced. Even though I am much older than when I first started watching this show, Ares no Tenbin has not disappointed my expectations and I wholeheartedly enjoyed each episode so far. Story: The plot progresses quickly, unlike the previous series. Soccer matches and character interactions are not drawn out as they were in the previous seasons. As always, there is some shadowy force called Ares no Tenbin in the background and it is foreshadowed well in the first few episodes. The plot concerning Haizaki and his childhoodfriend is also intriguing and keeps me waiting for the next episode. I liked the conclusion too as Nosaka's history is revealed near the end. The story is done well for a children's show, but one part of the story really made me cringe. In the first few minutes of episode 1, Inamori's mother dies and his soccer club is disbanded in the same day. It's ok though because the mother told him to love soccer so Inamori quickly moves past her death. Also, everything about Inamori's father makes no sense and I could not comprehend why the writers would fail so spectacularly in the area of Inamori's parents. Children would not really care about this point, but it completely disappointed me. Art + Sound: Characters look great. Old hissatsu wazas have new animations and they look gorgeous. The sound is a highlight of this show as always and combined with the art makes my hyped for every soccer match. Unfortunately near the end the art gets worse. Character: Haizaki and Nosaka are great characters, and together with the coach make the show enjoyable. The coach is eccentric, but this show has portrayed him excellently, and I enjoy whenever he is there. Goujin was a surprise hit and I liked how he got quite a lot of limelight and was well developed too. We didn't get to see much of Endou, Kidou, and Gouenji, but when they appeared I really liked it. Inamori started off very awkward but he has development afterwards, but he doesn't get anywhere close to Tenma. I also dislike Inamori's motivation to play soccer, and the whole situation with his parents. Unfortunately, the story does not flesh out the other members of Raimon; they get one episode for character development and then are tossed aside. Hyped fights such as against Hakuren, Kira Orphanage, and Endou's team were a bit of a letdown too because we didn't like the characters as much. The managers are forgettable and not as memorable as the managers in past season, especially when compared to Aoi, Haruna, and Natsumi. Conclusion: I enjoyed the first half well, but I didn't get as hyped for the latter matches. I still give this show an overall 8/10 because hissatsus were cool, some characters were very entertaining, and the overall plot with the Ares organization was well executed.
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